An Artist's Challenge
by Thorn In Your Side
Summary: Sai is looking for something to draw. He finds Naruto. SaiNaru, fluff.


An Artist's Challenge

**An Artist's Challenge**

**Disclaimer: don't own Naruto!  
Summary: Sai is looking for something to draw. He finds Naruto. SaiNaru, shounen-ai. **

**Gasp!! I finally wrote a SaiNaru that I don't think sucks to the high heavens!! And I've finally begun to brush up on my descriptions. Huzzah!**

**x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x**

Naruto sighed. What a lovely place for a nap—a small clearing in the middle of the dark verdant woods, a twelve foot diameter-ed circle of emerald green grass. He flopped onto his belly in the very middle of it, enjoying the cool of the damp grass against his stomach and legs, contrasting pleasantly with the delicious warmth of the fiery sun, which was chasing away the last of the grey clouds marring the sky.

He gave another contented sigh, burying his nose in the smell of freshly rained upon earth and the heady fragrance of crushed grass.

Sai was looking for something to draw, settled in the crook of the branch of his favorite tree next to a small clearing. He looked around him. The dark shadows of the trees threw out a million shapes he could sketch, but he didn't feel like it. The clear blue sky with its golden diamond of a day star drew his attention for a while…but there was too little detail there for Sai's taste, no playful white clouds scudding across the azure sea of the heavens. He turned his gaze downwards, where Naruto napped.

The awkward contrast between the boy's black tee, his painfully orange pants, and lime lollypop green of the grass was refreshing. Naruto's spiky hair provided and irresistible challenge, as did his skewed position.

Sai took up pen and paper.

As he drew, the raven haired boy concentrated on one small part at a time, as he sketched, refined and finally inked in each individual portion.

First, the shadows. They would move the fastest as time slipped by. He captured the shade of the trees, their leaves, and the branches on the far right corner of the clearing. Each darkness held mystery intrigue the allure of the unknown, defying artists' attempts to tie these attributes to something as mundane as paper. Sai worked with eternal patience, however, cajoling each shadow into his art with ink and skilled hand.

Then, the grass, the dazzling emerald beauty of the grass. The raindrops of the latest summer shower still clung stubbornly to the blades' tip, refracting and magnifying each ray of light to throw a confusing disarray of rainbows into the artist's face. Sai ignored this, he worked with the grass first, only the grass, the delicate curve of a blade as it swaying in a light zephyr, that pointy tip…then he continued to ignore the colors that weren't really there, hues that didn't exist. He didn't try to catch the scarlets and ceruleans, he didn't force the whites and saffrons onto his paper; rather, by working with primary colors, he coaxed them to life.

Now…Naruto-kun. The kyuubi jinchuuriki, the pride of Konohagakure, the Rokudaime-to-be. His teammate.

His violently blond hair came first, messy and unkempt, Sai styling it into vicious spikes. But no, that was right—the hair was gentler, more…obstinate? Yes, like the boy's character. Sai did the hair again, but this time it came off too soft, too feminine.

The vaguest of creases appeared at the bridge of his nose, and disappeared quietly.

Beneath him, Naruto slumbered on.

Third time's the charm, Sai decided, finally drawing it…not to his satisfaction, really, but close enough. He'd come back to it. For now, the ANBU member moved lower, to the sleeper's elegant neck. Again, the first time the neck came out too short, too dark. Then it was too long, too graceful. Again, Sai drew it a third time, and moved on, promising to refocus his attentions there later.

The shirt was easy to draw, as was the shadow of the boy. It took him some time to find the precise shade of devastating orange for Naruto's pants, but that came out okay too.

Sai moved to the boy's arms. The miniature crease reappeared, and stayed. First the limbs were spaghetti like, too brittle, then they were too limp. He tried again, with a dent in his fathomless patience and a bruise to his ego as an artist. But the arms came out splayed, lifeless, too muscular, or not muscular enough…

Sai took a deep breath. Focus. Find a small part, concentrate on it. Fingers. Knuckles. Wrist. Palm of one hand, back of the other. Good. But no, no good, they were too ladylike, too stubby, too fat, too thin, too stick-like, too log-like.

Another calming breath. Feet, then. Luck did not look at Sai, success did not favor him. The arch was too high for his taste, the toes curled not enough, the heel was too blunt, the ankle wasn't strong enough.

With some vague feeling of surprise, his eyes traveled upwards to meet Naruto's baby blue ones.

"Were you drawing me?" the boy whispered, stricken.

Sai dropped down, sitting on Naruto's stomach. "Trying to." He held up his incomplete art for inspection.

The blond shrugged, seeming unconcerned about their proximity. "It looks…"

"Like nothing special?" Sai teased.

He reddened. "Just like my dick," he laughed.

"You just refuse to be captured. There's some quality about you that I cannot charm, coax, cajole, nor force into my art, Naruto-kun."

He ducked his head in embarrassment, the pretty blush spreading to his neck.

"Get off me, Sai."

Before he obliged, Sai leaned forward and kissed him. Naruto raised a trembling hand to his cheek, looking flummoxed.

"For presenting a challenge I cannot overcome," Sai said, and they walked back to the village together.

**x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x**

**Right, so if any artist reads this, I hope you know I can just about draw/paint/sketch/other worth beans…this is how I would do it, if I could. So don't tell me it wouldn't work…I wouldn't know. **


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